Sugar and other sweeteners are so toxic to the human body they should be regulated as strictly as alcohol and tobacco, researchers at the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) argue in the journal Nature. "Many researchers are seeing sugar as not just 'empty calories,' but rather a chemical that becomes toxic in excess. At issue is the fact that glucose from complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains, is safely metabolized by cells throughout the body, but the fructose element of sugar is metabolized primarily by the liver," reports LiveScience. read more
Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, who dropped out after allegations were raised of him sexually harassing women, has endorsed Newt Gingrich. "I hereby officially and enthusiastically endorse Newt Gingrich for president of the United States," Cain said at a Gingrich campaign event in West Palm Beach, Fl.
White House chief of staff Bill Daley resigned last week and is being replaced by Jacob "Jack" Lew, the current director of the Office of Management and Budget, according to Obama administration sources. Daley, brought in to replace Rahm Emanuel, told Politico's Roger Simon in October that "on the domestic side, both Democrats and Republicans have really made it very difficult for the president to be anything like a chief executive." read more
A heap of dead bees was supposed to become food for a newly captured praying mantis. Instead, the pile ended up revealing a previously unrecognized suspect in colony collapse disorder -- a mysterious condition that for several years has been causing declines in U.S. honeybee populations, which are needed to pollinate many important crops. This new potential culprit is a bizarre -- and potentially devastating -- parasitic fly that has been taking over the bodies of honeybees (Apis mellifera) in Northern California.
Dave Barry: It was the kind of year that made a person look back fondly on the Gulf oil spill. Granted, the oil spill was bad. But it did not result in a high-decibel, weeks-long national conversation about a bulge in a congressman's underpants. ... For a brief (Har!) period, The Bulge was more famous than Justin Bieber.
A moment of silence at Clive Davis' pre-Grammy event, then they partied on: awards.music.yahoo.com Doesn't seem right.
All joking aside, what's with the interest over FLOTUSes? -- #24 | Posted by northguy3
Newt has been quoted as saying his first wife wasn't young enough or pretty enough to be FLOTUS. www.forbes.com
Kinda made Callista fair game.
Santorum is ahead of Romney is MO and MN--1% reporting--very early. -- #6 | Posted by MURPHY
...and Colorado! So far it's Santorum by landslide in all three. www.cnn.com
"according to a commentary in the current issue of the journal Nature"
If you knew anything about this or most other professional journals, -- #24 | Posted by vernon
I'm quite sure I know a lot more about them than you do. It's fair to note that while Nature is a top-tier peer-reviewed journal, the commentary section is almost certainly not peer-reviewed.
The journal is still run by a respected editorial board, though, and does not publish horseshit just to get conversation going. As noted in this article, the commentary was backed by numerous studies. Given how well-known it is that obesity and diabetes have become serious public health issues in the U.S. ( www.cdc.gov , abcnews.go.com) drawing a comparison between sugar, alcohol, and nicotine is not at all unreasonable.
...bane capitol... -- #139 | Posted by afkabl2
Congrats, Afka. "Bane Capitol" is almost as good as "Rmoney."